


Mature Steven AU

by Lil_M_C



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Corrupted Gems, Crystal Gems, F/F, Injury, Injury Recovery, Pre-Steven Universe Future, Steven Universe (Cartoon) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23904631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lil_M_C/pseuds/Lil_M_C
Summary: Steven gains his powers at an earlier age. Wanting to prove himself to the gems, as they didn’t believe in him, he stows away on one of their gem missions to help them.
Relationships: Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Kudos: 18





	Mature Steven AU

Steven Universe began living with the gems when he first got signs of his powers at the age of 9. He’d been slowly training for a while and he’d met Connie in a different way. And basically as his training advanced, he still wasn’t allowed to go on missions with the gems.

He was pretty young to be training anyway but he insisted on it because he wanted to be cool like they were. Fast forward, when he was about 12, he’s gotten pretty good at summoning his shield, sometimes even more than once, but that’s pretty much all he could do besides being able to open roses room. (he’d been secretly doing endurance training a lot without telling the gems or his dad.)

He noticed that the gems still hadn’t tried testing him on any missions, or even let him see how missions were. The gems reasoned taking him on missions was a bad idea because they thought he was still too young and they wanted him to have a little bit more freedom as a kid with Connie before he learns of the tragic fate of corrupted gems.

But Steven knew his potential and he knew he had a destiny, which he overheard from pearl and garnet cuz pearl can’t keep her mouth shut, and garnet seemed to be showin a lot more of Ruby’s side. He wanted to help, so one day, he hears about a big mission they were gonna go on and he sneaks into the temple to overhear the details.

Steven‘s curiosity was peaked, so after listening in, he decided to prep himself to accompany them on the mission, even if they said no. He wanted to show them he was able to help and that he was strong. He readied his puffer, and some warm clothes and filled up a bag with items he thought he’d need.

The day comes where the gems tell him, “we’re goin on the mission, Steven!” And Steven’s like, “can I come?” In the sweetest voice he could make.

“oh, Steven, I wish you could, but you’re just too young right now. Stay here and guard the house for us. We love you,” pearl answers.

He nods, watching them as they warp away, and right before the warp finished glowing, he jumps on at the last second, to not be noticed, and it works and they don’t see him come along.

The gems has already made their way into another room and Steven’s standing in awe of this base that they’ve warped into. It’s a completely glass room(floors, walls, and ceiling are made of glass, and it’s one way glass so he can see out but the outside reflects the scenery so you wouldn’t know it was there.) And this base, Half of it overhangs off of a mountain. 

He falls back onto the warp pad, afraid of stepping off the glass at first, but then he manages to feel it’s strength, and it feels pretty sturdy. He walks around the room, taking the rest of it in. It looks much like the control room of the moon base, but Steven wouldn’t have known that.

He makes his way to an inner room of the base, that was cut into the mountain. The mountains that were around him, were snowy, but you could tell this place was warming, as the snow was melting. It was overcast, but not snowing, and it was pretty windy. You could even hear the sound of the wind hitting the glass walls and floor, and maybe something else out there as well. The mountains were jagged in some areas, but most had flat plains around them and even some tops of mountains were flat enough to make little bridges to other mountains.

Steven goes into the next room and sees the gems were about to start their mission. Pearl was asking garnet a few more future questions to keep herself feeling confident and amethyst was doing something to her whip. 

The moment they heard the other door open, they looked over in alarm, and saw Steven, who was pretty embarrassed he’d gotten caught so easily.

“Steven??! What are you doing here?! You have to go home right this instant!” Pearl exclaims, walking over to make sure he’s in no way injured.

“I’m coming with you guys!” He says and smiles, begging them internally. 

“Oh, no no no, you are going to go right back home and wait for us there. This is a very dangerous mission, and you could get h—“ Steven cuts her off.

“But pearl, every time I ask, you guys always say no. One day, you’re gonna need me and I won’t be there to help you. Please! Just give me a chance!”

Amethyst was fine with him going, as she’d seen him doing his late night extra practice behind their backs and she was even gonna root for him, but garnet spoke up before she could.

“Steven, I know we treat you like you’re a child, and it seems like we don’t believe in you, or what you can do, but the fact is.. We care for you so much, and this mission is not an easy one. It’s going to be very difficult and long, and at your level of training, you aren’t ready.” 

Steven’s face flushed red, and he looked down at the floor, upset. “I just want to help...” he slams his foot on the ground, “You guys have never let me come on any missions, even though I train so hard! You don’t have any faith in me! Well I’m not going home! I’m coming with you, whether you like it or not!!” 

And this begins the long back and forth between him, Garnet, and Pearl. Steven continued his defiance and slightly threw a fit, as Garnet and pearl tried to calm him down, also slowly pushing him back towards the warp pad. Usually, Garnet could just pick him up, and walk him back home, but she didn’t this time.

They called his dad, and Connie, who was apparently already on her way to hang out with Steven. They both also tried to talk him out of doing the mission. Everyone was in the warp room now, and he was keeping himself away from the warp pad. Amethyst blocked off the door to the other room, and Connie and Greg were still trying to get him to stop. 

And he realizes that there’s no way they’re gonna let him go now. They were guarding the other door, and it felt suffocating knowing no one believed in him. He knew he could prove to them he’s strong enough, and he kicks the glass floor in defeat, and notices that the floor... “the floor is glass..” 

He thought to himself, “I’ve got one shot at proving it to them and I ain’t backing down.” He summons his shield, pretending to charge garnet and pearl, but instead, he slams his shield onto the floor as hard as he can, and it breaks a jagged circle into the floor and essentially, there’s a full second of stunned silence before everyone simultaneously yells, “STEVEN!” as he falls to the mountains below. 

He hits the snow with a soft thud, as the updraft made him float slower, and he sleds all the way down a part of one mountain to another connected to it. He stops, and notices the backs of his hands were a little cut by the glass, and he winces at the injury. He has no time to waste though, so he starts running. After a while, he felt a bit lost, but he only ran in one direction so he kept note of it with a compass be brought along, and stopped to take a break. A loud roar was heard over a nearby mountain and Steven decided to go into a nearby cave to keep himself hidden. He bandaged his fingers and decides nows the time to go catch that monster.

Making his way towards the sound, he remembers what garnet had told pearl and amethyst about the monster. It was a blue snake-like creature that eats glowing blue plants, it could dig holes like a worm, and it had a roar that could stun you if you didn’t cover your ears. He walked for some time, stopping to take a few breaks, but kept his mind aware of the way back, that is until he found the monster. It was peacefully eating some glowing blue plants, while slithering it’s tail as if it was pretending to be on guard. Being so close to a monster that big was extremely scary, but also a first for him. He took a deep breath and steadied his nerves, as he thought of a plan of attack. If he could trap it in one of the stone caves with his shield, it could be stuck long enough for him to get back to the gems and show his efforts, but he’d no idea how to.. then he saw it, some glowing blue plants in front of him and he smiled, picking them up, knowing his plan.

He jumped out in front of the monster, waving the blue plants and shouting, “HEY YOU! COME AT ME!” And then he ran, making sure to use his shield as a sled over slippery or steep slopes. He was chased near a high cave and managed to dodge, forcing the monster to run inside. He expanded his shield to act as a wall for the monster as it tried to turn around, and it couldn’t escape, as the shield was keeping it stuck in like a door.

“Woohoo! I did it!” Steven yells and gets closer to the monster to see what it looked like and the monster roared, causing steven’s ears to ring, and it banged on the shield, causing him to fall back in alarm. But the shield wasn’t budging and Steven calmed his nerves.

He was so happy, he was about to go back and tell the gems but he realized.. he was lost.

“G-garnet will know where I am though. I’m sure about that. And besides. I got my backpack and I have some food so maybe I’ll be able to-” he picks up his bag and and the glowing blue food fell out, prompting the monster to screech louder. A mountain of snow from atop the mountain he was on, began to fall. He covered his ears, and backed away from the slope and realized that he was about to end up in an avalanche if he didn’t run away. But then the monster would get buried and he’d lose it in the cave! He didn’t have much time to think of a plan as the monster banged against the shield again, like a gong, while still screeching and caused the mountain of snow to fall.

“Oh no!” Steven bolts away from the mountain and makes another shield to sled down but the shield hit’s a rock and he flies off, hitting his back against another a boulder, winding himself. The snow that was tumbling down was about to hit him, and he wasn’t able to move, not to mention his ears were still ringing. He tried to get himself to breathe, but the air on the mountains was thinner and it was too hard to do fast enough.

“So this is where I die?” He huffed, beginning to cry, “I fought with Dad, and the gems, and Connie and I could have apologized, but I didn’t...” He didn’t want to be here without them. He wanted to go back to them. He should have listened...

“WATCH OUT!” A voice yells, and jumps in front of him. His wet eyes blurred his vision, and all he could see was red. When they came into view, he could see this person wasn’t normal looking. They were short and square, and really red. they managed to melt the approaching snow with their hands like something the gems could do, and as Steven managed to get himself to move, he noticed a rock was coming from above, and he managed to get up and push the red being out of the way, and they tumbled down the mountain. He opened his eyes and it seemed he was in his shield- no... a BUBBLE?!

They reached the bottom of the mountain, into a valley that was still the top of another mountain, and the bubble popped, causing both of them to sink into snow.. the red being got up, and helped Steven regain the rest of his breathing.

“Wh-who are you?” Steven asks. The red being blushes, speaking like some sort of cowboy, “I’m just a traveller through these parts! I saw you introuble and I decided to help!”

Steven noticed something shiny on the beings hand, and sees her gem, “You’re another gem! But why are you in these mountains? Did you get lost here? I also got lost here. And I’m a gem too!” He asks, extremely intrigued by her. The red gem stammers, but nods and goes along with his words.

“That’s right! I’m a gem! M-my name’s Ruby.” She says with a nervous smile. Steven didn’t seem to notice her anxieties, and decided that some company was better than none.

Basically, Garnet split back into Ruby and Sapphire right after Steven had crashed through the floor. Hence why Steven got away so easily. And see, Ruby also had believed in Steven, and could feel he was going to be mature enough to handle a mission like this. But sapphire disagreed, only focusing on one path for him. So Ruby shot back, “because you only see him as a child! Can’t you see how he’s been acting these past months??” And Ruby said she was going to find him without Sapphire to show that she was right. And sapphire was too upset to stop Her. Sapphire stayed with Greg and Connie. Pearl and Amethyst went along too, but Ruby went alone, trying to put herself in his shoes, remembering the paths he could have taken if he used his wits. And she found him, but because it was supposed to be a secret she was a part of garnet, she kept her mouth shut and tried to play the part.

Ruby used Steven’s bandages on his wounds as he had scraped his back from before, while also keeping him warm by making a fire with her feet and some loose firestarters in steven’s backpack. The smoke blended with the wind and it disappeared as soon as it rose.

“S-so what brings you to the mountains, S- Er, human? These are dangerous parts. And it seems... you aren’t that prepared for something like this.” Ruby says, sounding more like a sheriff in the old west, she kept surveying the towering rocks above her, making sure there was nothing to attack them.

Steven looked down at his cut up hands and sighed, “I... I was trying to show them that I was able to go on missions with the gems- my family. But I guess they ended up being right. I really am too young to take care of myself...”

Ruby frowned, wanting to tell him he was wrong about how he felt, but she had to keep character, thinking about how he felt in her head.

“So, you’ve just been lost in these mountains?” he asks, looking around, noticing the amount of loose snow around them.

“Yea, uh, I’ve been here for decades. Haven’t been able to find my way home.”

Stevens eyes lit up, “Home?! You have a home?!! Are there other gems there?? What’s it like?? Do you know the crystal gems?!! Were you guys friends?! How—“

Ruby covered his mouth shut, “that’s too many questions for right now, maybe you should worry about keeping yourself alive while I figure out a way to get home.” Steven’s brain lit up and he remembered his compass, pulled it out of his pocket, “ I actually was trying to find my way home too, but I have no idea which way to—“

“A COMPASS! Oh perfect! if we go east, we’re sure to run into the end of the mountains! Nice job, Steven!” She exclaims.

“You’re welcome!” He says confidently, and they get up to go, but he stops, “wait... how do you... know my name??”

“Wh-What?” She doesn’t understand.

“I never told you my name.” 

“Y-Yeah sure you did.” Ruby flushes redder.

“No I didn’t. I wasn’t even fully sure if I should have trusted you, Ruby. D- do you know the crystal gems??!” Steven questioned, stepping back just a bit.

Ruby knew her plan was failing but she didn’t want to tell steven yet who she was because she was scared he’d try to run away and he was already injured, but she had no idea what to do. Sapphire was usually the one to know what to do, but... no. Sapphire’s no help either right now. Ruby’s gotta figure this out for herself.

“Okay, Steven. Sit down and listen for a second.” Steven sat down and she prepped herself for the truth, when Suddenly the roar of the monster was heard just over the mountains.

“I’m G-“ was all she managed to say before the monster was seen tumbling over the hills.

“Oh no, my shield! It must’ve poofed when I used that giant bubble! We have to run! Let’s just go east and maybe the gems will find me! My friend Garnet has future vision! She can save us!” He says, and starts running.

Upon hearing his trust in garnet, Ruby realized their predicament long before he did. Garnet wasn’t coming to save them. 

“Steven!” She yelled, and he looked back. She hadn’t moved an inch.

She could see he was trembling and cold as the wind blew around them. Telling him Garnet was gone would make him lose all hope, and there’s no way they’d make it trying to just run away with Steven being so tired.

She pumps herself up and yells with sheer determination, “We can beat it! We just have to try!”

He shook his head, “I already tried! I failed! There’s no way we can-”

“But this time you have help! We can do it!” She gestured to him and herself. “You just need to not give up! Isn’t that what a crystal gem does?!”

Steven looked at the monster, and felt the pain on his back. He knew just as much that running away wouldn’t work. And he searched for a way to get the monster trapped or maybe even poofed, anything at all, and then he remembered the snow. And he looked up to the mountains around him and one of them had a big slab that jutted out, holding a nice piece of jagged ice, with snow on top, hanging off of the edge. It was perfect for his plan. He mustered up his courage, and took a deep breath.

“Ruby! I’ll distract the monster and lead him under that rock,” he points her to the ice, and exclaims, “You gotta melt the ice so it’ll fall on it!” 

“Right!” Ruby yells, surveying the mountain herself. They begin their attack. Ruby used her gauntlet to crush holes in the mountain wall, to be able to make her way to the top. Meanwhile, Steven didn’t have to grab more blue stuff since that monster was already angry at him. And it begun its chase.

He threw some shields down into the ground to act as obstacles and walls for the monster to have to get around, and realized that he could trap it if he could make that bubble he had made before. Steven dug deep to try and find out how to make a bubble again. He ran and thought and ended up making more shields, depleting more and more of his energy. And when ruby finally got up to the top of the mountain where the ice was, Steven was literally out of breath and he ended up finally managing a bubble for himself in desperation, to stop from getting hit by the monster. 

Steven saw that both he and the monster were under the ice and he just needed to keep it there for a few seconds. The monster moved like a snake and began to curl itself around Steven to pop the bubble he was in.

“RUBY, NOW!” He yells and Ruby jumps, slamming her gauntlet down in a scream of fiery rage, cracking it off at the perfect moment for the ice block to fall, and Steven tried to roll away somehow, but the coiling monster popped the bubble.

Steven had no more energy left and the monster wrapped Steven on the end of it’s tail, staring him straight in the face. But it noticed the ice coming to crush them both and in a panic, it whipped Steven away from the crashing ice, knocking him against one of the mountains. The monster screamed as the ice pierced it and it poofed almost immediately. Ruby, still at the top of the mountain cheered with joy, and hopped back down, “We did it, Steven! We actually did it! I can’t believe...” and she stops chanting, seeing Steven, who doesn’t look conscious, or in any good condition. She runs over to him, feeling terrible, and she doesn’t know what to do.

“There you are!” A voice yells from behind her. It’s Pearl and Amethyst. 

“Steven?! What happened!!??” Pearl asks, but Amethyst cuts in, “ it doesn’t matter!! We need to get him to rose’s fountain right now!!”

Pearl cradles Steven in her arms, “will it even work?” And Amethyst, who’s seen all to well when a human is injured from her times as a wrestler, nods, “it has to!”

Ruby starts to cry, “This is all my fault” and Amethyst reassures her, “Everything’s gonna be okay, Steven’s gonna pull through just fine! Now hurry, back to the base! We need to get him to the fountain before anything else bad happens!” 

Ruby and Pearl make their way back, quickly, as pearl gracefully manages to jump easily over the mountains, and Amethyst stays behind, noticing the shine of something reflecting off the snow, the gem, it was the one from their mission, “They actually poofed it?!!”

Sapphire meets up with Ruby again, as the gems make it back to the warp of the fountain. As they inch closer, sapphire starts talking, “I’m sorry, Ruby. I should have listened—“ but ruby just hugs sapphire tightly, holding in her tears.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t think to work this out together. Steven might not have gotten hurt if you and I had just listened to eachother in the first place.” 

Sapphire smiles, with a tear down her eye, “you took the words right out of my mouth!” And they share a sweet kiss before ruby continues,“Steven’s not a normal kid. He understands the “severity” of these missions.” and sapphire’s nods, “you’re right, dear. My vision was clouded by what I thought he’d do if he had been acting on the instincts of his youth, but through you I can see that his childlike charm isn’t always going to show. I understand now” and they hug and ruby spins sapphire around, and they fuse back into garnet, but this time, they won’t make the same mistakes.

They reach the fountain and Pearl gently rests Steven into the water, to heal him. And he floats under the water. 

Amethyst manages to make it with greg and Connie just in time as well, and at first, nothing happens, and the water around him turns ever so slightly redder, as there were no bubbles being exhaled, and everyone waits. Connie hides her tears, crying into Greg’s shirt, as they all feared the worst, but then the water around him began to glow, and Greg says, “wait look!” And she turns to see his wounds magically healing. She let go of Greg’s shirt and came closer to the fountain, and steven opened his eyes and coughed, swimming back up to the top to breathe. Connie cheered, jumping into the fountain with him, and giving him a big hug as he regained his senses, “what happened?”

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Connie exclaimed.

Greg also teared up, and he answers, “we thought we lost you there, kiddo”. And Greg goes down to give steven a hug and kiss. 

Steven smiles, “Did we win? Did we defeat the monster?!“

Pearl looks at garnet in a bit of confusion as ruby basically forgot the gemstone. But amethyst smiles, “yep! Got it right here!” Garnet wiped her eyes and gave pearl a hug, and Steven smiles, then remembers earlier, and he apologizes for his actions.

Connie and Greg were just happy to see him okay, and told him as such, and Amethyst applauded him for his efforts. While Pearl also apologized for not giving him a chance. 

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. For now, let’s get you home to rest,” Garnet smiles.

The next day, where steven’s at home still recovering mentally, Garnet comes into the room through the warp pad. 

Steven notices her entrance, “Garnet... I wanted to talk to you!” He says, and she nods, coming over to sit on the edge of his bed with him.

“I wanted to say.. you were right. I really am too young to deal with all that mission stuff. All that mapping, and the strategizing, and the snow! I was underprepared... I shouldn’t have doubted you. You were just looking out for me. You didn’t want me to get hurt. I’m sorry.” 

Garnet shakes her head, taking off her shades to look at him,“Steven, I’m sorry. I know you feel I was right, but the truth is, I was wrong.”

“What?! B-but you have future vision! I was being stubborn! There’s no way you were wrong!” 

Garnet let out a chuckle, “There’s more to it than that. I was at war with myself. I didn’t want to believe you were capable of something like this. I was only seeing you as a child, and because of that, I was only able to see you in grave danger if you joined us. But that was wrong. If I had allowed you with us, everything would have turned out okay. For you, for me, for the rest of the gems. But I still refused to believe that you had changed. That you were capable of change. You’re growing up. And I’m so proud of how you’re coming along. Thank you, Steven. You’ve shown me that I too can change.” 

Steven‘s heart warms, and he smiles up at her, “yer welcome,” and they share a big hug. 

“Wait!!,” he stops. What happened to that Ruby I met?! Did you see her?? Is she okay?!” 

garnet’s laughs, “She’s just fine Steven. She went home!” And Steven smiles,“I’m glad she did.”

~End~

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for getting this far. I know it was kind of long. I got this idea from a dream I had, and decided to fix it up a bit. I hope you enjoyed. Sorry if you expected any scenes to be a little different! Have a good day! I’ll probably add more to this AU soon!


End file.
